Appointments, honors and activities

June 20, 2014

• Appointments and promotions:

- Lucia Anderson, special projects manager for the senior vice president for the Office of the Business Services and Assistant Treasurer, will serve as interim director of Sponsored Program Services, effective Monday (June 23). Anderson has been the special projects manager since 2011. Before that, she held various business manager positions within the colleges of Agriculture and Science. She was then promoted to director of business managers, a position she held for more than 12 years. Anderson will be responsible for working with the SPS leadership team to manage operations that support research and other sponsored programs in the areas of pre-award, post-award, contracting, data and research compliance.

• Faculty and staff honors:

- Beth Holloway, assistant dean of engineering for undergraduate education and director of the Women in Engineering Program, has been given the Distinguished Service Award by the Women in Engineering ProActive Network. The award recognizes WEPAN members whose individual service has made a significant impact for the organization. Holloway has been a WEPAN member since 2001 and has served in many capacities, including president, president elect and past president.

- Purdue Police Sgt. Matt Wietbrock has been promoted to lieutenant, overseeing the records unit in the department's Special Services Division, effective immediately. Wietbrock, a Purdue alumnus, has been with the department since 2002. He began in the patrol unit, then was promoted to sergeant in the investigations unit, where he was instrumental in helping develop and lead the department's evidence section and dignitary protection team. In his new role, he will support PUDPD's CALEA accreditation, assist in ensuring that Clery and Zachary compliance efforts are fulfilled, and oversee the daily functions of the records unit.

• Student honors:

- A team of four Purdue students won the first Indy Civic Hack Day, sponsored by Indy Chamber. The team developed an interactive application that allows a driver to report potholes by resting a smartphone on a vehicle's dashboard. As the user drives city streets, the app will note any bumps along the way. Once a section of road is marked three times by the app, a service request for the pothole is created. Indy Chamber said development of the app could help local governments find and repair potholes on a shorter timeline. Team members are David Tschida, Michael Hockerman and Ben Wencke from the College of Science and Michael Price from the College of Engineering. All are currently participating in TechPoint's inaugural IndyXtern class.

- Rachel Sitarz, a doctoral student from St. John, Indiana, studying cyber forensics in the College of Technology, was recently recognized for her work with the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations for her work in a nationally coordinated 2012 investigation. Operation Island Express targeted a transnational document trafficking organization based in Puerto Rico and operating in about 33 states and the Dominican Republic. The documents were used to commit identification and financial fraud. The investigation resulted in 144 indictments; 87 federal/state criminal arrests with 57 convictions; 64 administrative arrests; interception of more than 1,000 documents; more than 1,400 trafficked identities; and seizure of five vehicles and nearly $200,000 in financial instruments. The HSI Executive Associate Director's Annual Awards Program honored the Chicago office for "Outstanding Investigative Accomplishments- Immigration Fraud."